Macross: Lylan Encounter
by uruturamanzenith
Summary: When Van, a descendant of Zentraedi and human warriors, makes contact with inhabitants from Lylat, the events set in motion will change the face of the universe forever, and may cost the lives of both him and his friends
1. Macross: Lylat Encounter: prologue

The stars glittered like diamonds on the black canvas that was space, the sun shining on a celestial body as the much smaller metallic, brick-shaped craft floated seemingly listlessly just outside of its gravitational pull. While it was tiny in comparison to the planet itself, the ship was hundreds of meters long, with a small protuberance at one of the ends where the bridge was located, while along its body were multiple turrets and what one would believe to be weapons-emplacements. Inside one of the hangars along its front, several aircraft were docked via manual docking-arms, save for one. There was one that was slightly different from the angular craft, seated at the back of a runway where the cosmos lied at the other end, the tiny diamond-like stars seeming to beckon to the craft. Inside the cockpit, the pilot was going over the last of his checks, though not in particularly high spirits. _"I don't see what you're grumbling about. It's just like piloting the older models, _and _you logged more than enough hours in the simulator." _

"_I'm not a big fan of something I'm not entirely familiar with. Simulator aside, this is supposed to be more advanced than the Thunderbolt model. Anyway, let's get the kinks out of it." _He could feel the engines growl to life when he turned them on, feeling the vibrations through the frame of the craft. Gripping the joy stick, he pulled down on the throttle as he lowered the visor on his helmet. The craft sped out of the hangar almost like a bullet,, the immense g-forces being pressed on the pilot were absorbed by his flight suit, his focus on his HUD while stars wheeled about him in a dizzying frenzy. Gripping the joy stick and throttle, he was able to bring the ship under his controls. He performed half a roll, and then another, making sure the stabilizers and ailerons were in working order. He executed a perfect roll next, followed by a loop-de-loop.

"_Having fun out there?" _the voice crackled in his headset.

"_Making sure everything works, that's all."_

"_How's she feel?"_

"_So far, so good. Systems nominal, no abnormalities."_

"_Good, let's shake things up a little bit." _from the hangars, several craft were launched towards the other. The pilot was alerted when his sensors picked them up. A live-fire exercise he thought. Fine. He performed half a loop to face the oncoming craft and gunned the engines, rocketing towards them. The first one that came withing range, he flicked a switch on the joy stick and two missiles flared from the undercarriage of the fighter and streaked towards the lead craft, destroying it in a flare of fire and metal. He tried the vulcan gun, pressing the trigger on the joy stick and watched another craft get shredded to flaming debris as the other craft flew outward and away from him when he got close, their AI determining that he was too close to be attacked effectively, and the pilot could get a good look at them; they were long and slender, with only a pair of wings, a fuselage, and twin barrels that reached outward from the fuselage, an apprent variant of the _Lancer_-class space-superiority fighter. Unmanned, of course. _"Careful, those drones are mighty expensive."_

"_Not as expensive as this prototype."_

"_Well now it's time to see what that protoype can really do!" _

"_You got it!"_ The pilot felt a wolfish grin play on his face when he tapped the middle of three small levers just above his throttle. Just then, the craft seemed to sprout arms and legs: arms and hands popping out from under the wings, and the legs forming from the afterburners and air-intake. In one of the hands, a rifle-shaped pod was held and aimed at one of the drones. It fired and the drone was torn to pieces from the rapidly-fired projectiles. Another of the drones flew above the modular craft and fired its primary weapon; the long barrels fired rapidly-shot projectiles of their own, but they failed to hit the craft as it dodged and juked out of the way before returning fire in the form of missiles that were stored under the wings. The projectiles promptly destroyed the drone as the craft selected another target. At least the GERWALK mode is also functioning.

"_Heads up, Van. I'm sending another wave at you."_

"_The more the merrier!"_

"_Good! The data we're getting on this is incredible! It's speed is almost twice that of the Thunderbolt! How's she handling?"_

"_Like a dream! Much more smoothly than the Thunderbolt."_

Unknown to the ship, another had arrived in the solar system, this one arriving through a shimmering emerald portal. It was smaller than the first ship, sporting four large wings at the base, two at the bottom and two at the top and a stabilizer at the top, with a neck-like protuberance coming from the top of the base, an arrow shape at the end of it. At the bottom of the base were a pair of turrets, like the barrels of a large gun, and beneath them was a small opening. On the side of the base was a large symbol, like that of a winged fox. From the opening, four craft flew out and towards the other ship that lied just out of orbit of the large planet. They stopped when they felt they were close enough to observe the activity and started to communicate with one another.

"_Who are they, the natives?"_

"_Can't be, there isn't supposed to be any intelligent life in this system, at least none that we picked up when we probed it last month."_

"_Yeah, certainly looks like there's intelligent life right in front of us, unless they sprung up out of nowhere."_

"_Or, most likely, they're not from this system. I don't think they'd be doing this kind of thing if they lived here."_

"_What _are _they doing? Looks like some kind of dog-fight and the big one there is just watching."_

"_Maybe it's some kind of test? Let's take a closer look!"_

"_Slippy, wait!"_ One of the craft raced towards the apparent dogfight, followed by its companions.

Five more drones were launched, and these were even more persistent than the previous ones. They actively tried to surround the craft and blow it out of the cosmos, only for the pilot to react just quick enough to evade the oncoming fire and return fire, destroying two with quick bursts from its rifle-pod. It was then that the pilot, Van, decided to further test the prototype: he pressed down on the third lever, and the craft changed again. The whole fuselage seemed to split and fold over the canopy as it slid backwards, the nose cone folding downward as the legs fully straightened and formed while the arms were pushed forward. The craft pulled up, the nose cone now partially covered by the transformed fuselage and above popped out a kind of head-like piece, complete with a visor and a singular, fin-like antennae on the top of the head. With the transformation complete, the craft looked radically different: It was now humanoid in shape, with the point of the nose cone being in the center of the "chest", the legs now fully formed from the air-intakes and afterburners while the wings were folded against the "hips". The arms and hands were now on either side of what is now the chest, formed from the fuselage of the craft and sporting shoulder guards. On the left arm was a kind of shield that covered the forearm and hand, while the rifle-pod was held in the right hand. In its new modular form, the craft was more nimble and avoidable, but lost much of its flight power, but that didn't bother Van, who now sat confortably in the newly-reconfigured cockpit. The transformation had the cockpit be buried in the chest of the craft, protecting it from harm while the interior changed, the control console shifted to be almost in his lap while the canopy showed a complete 360 degree image of the area around him. His controls shifted to where there were twin joy sticks on either side of him, both meant to control the arms of the machine while the foot pedals still controlled the afterburner, and the legs. In this form, he had no problem taking out the drones, using his rifle-pod and the missiles stored in its legs and shoulders, and he was beginning to enjoy it. He always preferred the Battloid form of a variable fighter; it made him feel like a giant among insects.

"_Fox, I was right! They _are _performing some kind of test. Looks like it's some kind of weapons' test. This guy, whatever he's piloting, is shredding these fighters to pieces, it's incredible! Even the machine looks advanced. Only Andross built anthropoid war machines but they weren't anything this advanced!"_

"_Slippy, get away from there before you're spotted!" _The winged fighter hovered there in space, watching and observing the dogfight with interest while its companions had caught up with it.

"_Slippy, we're too close! We have to pull back now!"_

"_Hey, Mike?"_

"_Yeah, Van?"_

"_Did you send out any more drones?"_

"_No why?" _Van could see the four craft floating just outside the debris field, seemingly watching him.

"_Oh, no reason,"_ he replied. _"I'm gonna call you back."_

"_Wait, what are you-"_ Van cut the transmission and turned the machine to face the four craft as time seemed to stand still for them. None made a move as they stared at one another, not a transmission was made, and none dared breathe a word. After a seemingly endless moment, Van sent a transmission at them, a general hailing transmission meant as both greeting and inquiry.

"_He's hailing us!"_

"_I _know _he's hailing us! Can anyone decipher it?"_

"_It's a simple numeric code, should be easy to decipher once I reroute it to the Great Fox, have the computer and ROB decode and decipher it and resend it back to us."_

"_How long will that take?"_

"_Doing it now!"_

"_Well hurry! I think he's getting antsy!" _Indeed, the machine got closer to them, its rifle-pod in both hands as the signal was being sent over and over again. _"Can we send a reply?"_

"_We could, but it would seem like jargon to him. We need time to decipher the signal so we can get a handle on the type of language these guys use."_

"_Let me try something," _one of the craft moved closer to the machine, slowly and as non-threateningly as possible.

"_Krystal, get back here!"_

"_Van, what's going on?!"_

"_Nothing right now, I sent a general hailing and it seems like they're mulling it over."_

"_They're probably deciphering it. Don't move, don't do a _damn _thing until I send word back to the Macross 3 and we can get some experts out here!"_

"_Sure thing, but I don't think they're going to do anything…wait, something's happening." _One of the craft was getting closer to his Excalibur prototype, and he grasped the joy-sticks in response, the machine gripping the rifle-pod in response.

Krystal nudged her fighter as close as she dared to the other machine that loomed over her. It was then that she let her mind go, and reached out, seeing the pilot of the other machine in her mind's eye. She sensed that the pilot was not too different from her, and was as curious as she was. But then, he became aware of her, and her mind was flooded with images, impressions, and emotions, mainly shock and surprise.

"_Who's in my head!?" _Van grasped his helmet while images flooded his brain, a sensation like someone was physically rummaging around in his mind, impressions being forced on him. He groaned as he tried to sort them out, but they flashed too quickly. _"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!"_

"_No, wait!" _She didn't intend this, but Krystal's mind was now linked with his. She only wanted to feel out the pilot, not form a bond. Then again, she hadn't the time to properly train her mental abilities. This was something she had hoped to avoid, as it was akin to forcing oneself unto another. But it seemed the damage was done, as the mental link exchanged ideas, emotions, and images between persons as fast as the speed of thought, the other machine reacted by raising its rifle-pod threateningly. _"Stop, we're not here to harm you!"_

"_Who are you?!" _Van felt an intense fear as he felt the images almost burn themselves into his brain, unable to make heads or tails of them and reacted instinctively, gripping the controls and aiming the rifle-pod at the craft. _"WHO ARE YOU!?"_

"_Van, What's wrong? What's going on?! Can you read me?"_

"_Krystal, watch it!" _Another fighter craft struck Krystal's, knocking her away from the oncoming spray of fire from the rifle-pod. But this didn't stop the other machine as it reconverted into its fighter configuration and bore down on the two craft, firing on them as they evaded. _"Are you alright?" _

"_It's all my fault, Fox. I tried to get a sense of the pilot, but I accidentally created a mental link instead. He can't handle the amount of information that's being shared."_

"_Can you make it stop?"_

"_Normally, but he's in such a frenzied state right now that I can't reach him!" _The craft fired missiles at them, but they narrowly evaded them as they exploded harmlessly.

"_That's not necessarily good news for us!" _

"_Get out, get out, GET OUT!"_ He was driven by his war instinct, to find the thing that caused him pain and to eliminate it. He ignored the transmissions from the brick-shaped ARMD, and from his friend Mike, as he pursued them doggedly, firing both the vulcan and missiles at them, all four of them. They scattered and tried their damndest to avoid him.

"_What's this guy's problem?!"_

"_He's gone nuts! The Arwings are barely able to keep up with this guy!" _In the cockpit, Fox thought furiously on how to handle the situation. He thought about shooting him down, but it wasn't necesarrily his fault, it was all a misunderstanding. And if he were to let him head back to his ship, what he might have to say could probably damage any chance of a dialogue between Lylat and whoever these people are. He came to one conclusion.

"_Peppy! Bring the Great Fox around!"_

"_What do you have in mind, Fox?" _he heard the oldster reply.

"_We're going to try and restrain him aboard Great Fox!"_

"_Are you crazy?! He'll tear the ship apart from the inside!"_

"_Not so fast, Falco! We have EM conductors in the hangar that we can use to set up an electronic net! It should be enough to at least render him immobilized!"_

"_Yeah? And then what?!"_

"_We let Krystal do her thing and calm him down, and hopefully explain ourselves!"_

"_You mean this was _her _fault?!" _

"_Not now, Falco! Alright, so who's going to lure him in?"_

"_I will. I was the one who established the link, so he'll follow me in!"_

"_Too dangerous, Krys."_

"_We have no choice, Fox. I'm going for it!" _Krystal's Arwing peeled away from Fox's, and the fighter craft followed after her as she headed for the _Great Fox_, with Fox, Falco, and Slippy bringing up the rear to ensure that he doesn't veer away from his present course. Like a dog after a rabbit, the fighter craft followed the Arwing right into the hangar, where it reconfigured into its half-fighter/half-robot form, aiming its rifle-pod in one arm at the Arwing in front of it. It was then that the machine seemed to seize up, paralyzed as three modules placed at certain spots started to glow and hum, producing waves of electro-magnetic energy at the machine. The rest of the Arwings flew in as it tried to reconfigure itself into its robot form, barely achieving that as it was brought to a knee, unable to raise its rifle-pod as the Arwings surrounded it.

"_Alright, we got 'im!"_

"_The EM net is holding steady, no abnormalities so far. He's not going anywhere."_ The cockpits of the Arwings opened and their pilots jumped out to inspect their catch. Fox walked up to it with Krystal next to him, Falco and Slippy walking around and inspecting the machine. Fox looked to Krystal as she looked up at the machine that loomed over them, like a giant looking at an insect.

"Can you reach him?"

"I'll try." Her eyes closed as she looked out her mind's eye at the pilot inside.

This was the worst situation possible he could be in. Not only was he mentally assaulted, but he allowed himself to get captured by apparent enemy forces, his Excalibur prototype immobilized by some sort of magnetic force. He was rooted in his seat as he looked at the canopy that showed the image of the pilots of the craft. _"They're….they're animals?!" _he asked aloud. Indeed, the two that stood before him bore a striking resemblance to animals, primarily a form of canine, or vulpine. One had bright red fur with white covering its face while a small snout jutted from its face with a black nose, pointed ears perched atop its head with a white strip going between them, while piercing emerald eyes were set in its face. It was dressed in a green flight suit with a vest, boots and a belt. The other, looking like a shorter version of the other with feminine curves, had striking blue fur with apparent hair braided in different places, a silver tiara on its forehead with an emerald in its center, and softer green eyes. She was dressed similarly to her apparently male counterpart, save that she was dressed in a blue flight suit. _"What...is this?! Just what the hell is this?!" _he shouted at the screen. He still felt the presence in his mind, but when he saw the blue alien's eyes close, the sensation changed. He thought he heard a voice in his brain, but couldn't make it out or understand it. But, it was the sensation he felt, a calming presence that lessened the intense feeling he experienced before. He felt himself finally relax, the feeling lessening to where he no longer felt like someone were in his mind. He let out a heavy sigh, perspiration running down his face and body as his hands slid from the joystick, lying back as he suddenly felt tired for a moment, then fought to keep his senses about him. He still saw that the aliens were still out there, and still looked like Earth-like animals. Then again, the Zentraedi were human-like themselves, so who was to say that there were other forms of life that mirrored other life forms on Earth? He saw that one of them was moving its mouth, as though speaking, and when he turned on the audio sensors, he heard a voice.

"_No moud 0ei de xuhm! Fcouji, semo eik je no sud kucb!"_

"What the hell?" he asked aloud. The one who spoke, the feminine one, stepped forward and seemed to be reaching out, towards him, making what appeared to be a "come here" gesture. "She wants me to come out?"

"You think he understood?" Fox asked.

"Maybe not my words, but the intent should be clear. At least, as clear as I could make it." They stood as nothing happened, and Falco and Slippy joined them finally after their own inspection of the machine.

"Find anything?" Fox asked.

"This machine is using a different type of power source than we're using, some sort of fusion reactor, kind of like the what we used to use before we shifted to using the G-Diffuser system. But this one's much more advanced than the ones we used. Man, I wish I could take this thing apart!"

"How 'bout you, Falco?"

"Eh, I guess it's cool looking," Falco replied with a shrug.

"That's it, "it's cool looking"?" Fox asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm not the mechanic. That's his gig," Falco replied, gesturing to Slippy.

Now two more joined them, one was in the form of a kind of frog or toad, or some sort of squat, amphibian-looking creature, and the other looked to be a kind of bird of prey with blue feathers, both dressed similarly to the other two, and both also humanoid in shape. This was getting to be too much for Van. Every instinct in his body told him going out was a bad idea, but what choice did he have right now. He couldn't even move the Excalibur as it is now. With a heavy sigh, he tapped in some commands and the cockpit shifted. The screens on the canopy fuzzed and then blinked out as his seat was raised and the top of the canopy opened.

The head of the machine shifted forward and lowered from the shoulders. And then, something rose between the shoulders, behind the head. It looked like a seat with a figure sitting in it. It then got up and jumped off the seat and landed in front of the surprised team, taking the 20-foot jump relatively easy. The team gave the pilot a wide berth, taking his form in: He seemed to wear an almost all-gray flight suit with a harness attached to his chest, and matching gloves and boots. His helmet matched his suit as it was gray and black and angular in shape, and covered his face. _"Anatahadare?"_

"Did he just speak?" Fox asked.

"Seems like it," Falco replied.

"_Anatahadare?"_

"Is it a greeting, or a question?"

"I think he's asking who we are," Krystal replied.

"How do we answer him?"

"How's the translation going, Peppy?" Fox asked into his headset.

"_We've translated the signal, but it's only a numeric code, not sent in his language."_

"Someone has to reply." Falco commented.

"Let me try," Krystal started.

"Last time you tried, you nearly drove him insane, remember?" Falco interjected.

"I know what I'm doing, Falco!" Krystal shot back, making the Avian flinch somewhat. With a heavy sigh, Krystal closed her eyes and this time, only tried to _feel _his mind and get the impressions from him. "I was right, he's only asking for our identity."

"Then tell him that we're friends, we're just scouting this place."

"I'll try." A moment passed before the pilot spoke again, and Krystal seemed to to translate. "He's asking where we're from."

"Tell him from a system that's far from here." She pictured an image of the Lylat system, a binary star system with twelve planets, and three surrounding nebulae. She felt he could see it in his mind, and he reciprocated. "How's it going?"

"He's shown me a solar system with a single sun and nine planets," Krystal replied.

"That's probably where he's from. Did he tell you where it is?"

"I get the sense it's far from here, but that's all."

"That's fine, so long as we're getting everything on the monitors around the hangar, this won't be in vain. Tell him we'd like to officially meet somewhere, start a dialogue, stuff like that." Krystal sent her thoughts out again, and felt them recieved.

"_Fox, we got a problem! A large ship and several smaller craft are heading right towards us!"_

"We hear ya, Peppy!" Fox responded before turning to face the team. "His friends have come to pick him up, let's hurry this up!"

"_Sore wa watashi shidaide wa arimasenga, watashi wa sono messeji o tsutaemasu." _the pilot states, his arms were folded across his chest as he spoke.

"What was that?"

"I'm not sure. I think he understood and will relay the message."

"Alright, let's deactivate the net."

"Are you sure about that, Fox?" Falco asked.

"We've said our piece, that's all we can do." He nodded at Slippy who tapped something on a plastic tablet. The modules ceased their hum and glowing. The pilot noticed this and stepped back to his machine. He tapped something on his wrist, and one of the machine's hands lowered to the floor of the hangar, allowing to step onto it as he was lifted towards the head of the machine, stepping off on the shoulders and taking his seat once more. He was lowered into the body of the machine as the head returned to its place, the visor flahsing to life when done. It reconfigured into its intermediate form and rocketed out of the of the hangar, turning into its fighter form and flying away from the _Great Fox_ and towards the brick-shaped ship. He linked up with the other craft and they turned to follow after him while the other ship held its position.

"_ARMD Lexington to Excalibur prototype, can you read me?"_

"_Loud and clear, Lexington," _Van replied.

"_Van! What the hell happened?! Why'd you take off so suddenly like that?!"_

"_Don't worry, Mike. I'll explain everything," _Van replied taking off his helmet as he headed into the hangar of the ARMD, short dark hair brushed over a young face that seemed to belong to a predator, angular and sharp-featured with blood-red eyes belying his ancestry. When fully docked, he jumped out of the cockpit as one of the technicians walked up to him. "Make sure this ship is reloaded and resupplied!"

"Right away, sir!" As he walked out of the hangar and down a corridor, His mind was still back on the alien ship with the walking, talking animals. At least, that's what they looked like to him. Taking a lift at the end of the corridor, he was taken to the bridge of the ship where several people worked at various stations while a figure in a slightly disheveled uniform sat in the central command seat, looking at the various different screens. He got up and looked at the newcomer, and Van could see the slightly older man standing before him, a scruff of a beard on his face while his blonde hair was kept short, his steel gray eyes seemed to brighten upon seeing him.

"Van, glad to see you!" He stuck out a hand, which Van took heartily.

"Same to you, Mike."

"What was it like on the alien ship?!" he asked excitedly.

"Very...weird," Van replied.

"Weird how?"

"Well they weren't Zentraedi if that's what you wanted to know. They were unlike most life forms weve encountered so far."

"What were they like?"

"I think it's better if you looked over the footage from the Excalibur prototype's cameras and you'll find out."

"You sure it's a good idea to send them information on Lylat, and an invitation?" Peppy asked, the elder hare looking at Fox. The main screen on the bridge showed the other ship leaving the vicinity, becoming smaller by the second.

"That is part of the reason why we're out here, right?"

"Really? I thought we were out here to collect a pay check, like we usually do," Falco commented. "That _is _why we're here, right?"

"We're here to investigate this place because we're not only best suited, but because General Pepper wanted to make sure it was safe to send out a scientific team to do a thorough survey," Peppy replied. "What we got instead, was something rather unexpected. The first contact with an alien life form in who knows how long."

"Alert, alert, alert! Proximity alert activated by a large mass coming at us from behind!" ROB was busy at a console while stating the emergency, shifting the image from the alien ship to another craft appeared, this one vastly different from the other: It seemed to be arrow-shaped with two large booster-engines at the rear, an oval-shaped gray protuberance on the side to stand out against the smooth, lime-green hull. Along the hull were several turrets that seemed to be gun-emplacements.

"Is that another ship?" Fox asked.

"What the hell is this, some sort of alien convention? First those...alien guys and now this!" Falco commented.

"Maybe they're related?" Krystal replied.

"Hail them, all the same," Fox replied. A moment after sending out the signal, activity was happening as several points of light flew from the ship and were headed for the Great Fox.

"Now indicating several small craft headed for our location," ROB commented.

"I doubt it's a welcoming committe. Let's head back to the Arwings!" No sooner said, the red alert sounded as the team ran towards the hangar, the ship rocking as though struck on all sides. When the Arwings launched, it was in the middle of a battle as fighter craft in the shape of pods with triple engines on the end and a single triple-barreled turret on the other with a canopy on the top. They were larger than the Arwings themselves, more than twice their size, as they swamred over the _Great Fox_ and blasted at it with laser fire and missiles. The Arwings bobbed and weaved, reacting with firepower of their own, twing and single laser bolts of emerald danced across space and struck the enemy fighters, doing damage and destroying them. But there were simply too many, as many as twenty enemy craft swarmed over them and poured their firepower upon them.

"Sir, a new vessel just arrived in our vicinity!"

"Where?" Mike almost ran to the console where the techie worked.

"Close to the alien ship," the techie replied.

"Maybe it's their support," Van replied with a shrug.

"We just identified the ship! Putting it on the screen now!" The image shifted to an image of the two alien craft, one swarmed by smaller craft, but the image held the entire bridge almost spellbound as they looked at it in shock and recognition.

"Is that a Zentraedi ship?!" one of the techies asked.

"Worse, it's a Zentraedi scout ship!" Mike replied. He felt his hands tremble into fists upon seeing it. This was bad, if a scout ship were here, then does that mean that there were more not far behind. Van looked at the image, shock turning to resolve as he turned and headed off the bridge, but not before Mike turned and called to him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To battle!" Van replied simply.

"You must be kidding! Even if it is just a scout ship, you're going to be hopelessly outgunned and outnumbered!"

"Not gonna stop me," he said simply before heading out the door. Mike sighed in frustration, rubbing his face with a hand before turning to navigation. "Turn us around and head back."

"_Fox, we're not putting much of a dent in these guys!"_

"_How many fighters does that thing hold?"_

"_We can't even attack their mother ship, not until we can clear the space around us!"_

"_Peppy, how's the Great Fox doing?"_

"_Taking heavy fire. Shields are barely holding but they won't last long under this assault! We're going to try and face their mother ship if you can try and thin their numbers a little more."_

"_We're gonna try, Peppy! But at this rate…"_ Fox was beset by a couple of enemy fighters, both firing with their main guns and their missiles. He was able to deflect the oncoming laser fire with a barrel roll, but the missiles were harder to avoid. They were not able to hit directly, but as they exploded practically next to him drained his shields. He open fired on a pair in front of him, taking them down with a charged shot while he saw falco down one and chasing after another, Krystal having one on her tail before performing a loop and shooting him down. Even Slippy, the least capable pilot, was able to down a couple by firing a nova bomb at a couple and rendering them to space dust. Yet even then, the enemy fighters poured themselves onto them from their mother ship, and it too took action as it targeted its guns on the _Great Fox_, firing upon it, the Dreadnaught-class ship answering with firepower of its own. As Fox was evading more of the fighters, he saw some of them explode around him, turning into flaming debris as missiles were fired from a distance to deal death to the aggressors. Confused, Fox looked back to see the recognizable fighter craft seemingly fly from the glare of the star and into the field of battle, reconfiguring from its fighter form to its more robotic one, weilding its rifle-pod in one hand, and a shield on its other forearm. _"Well, look who decided to join us!" _Fox exclaimed with a laugh.

Van could feel the warrior's blood in him be brought to a boil at the sight of the battle, and then to a raging roil as he unleashed the first salvo and watched the cheaply-made Zentraedi Gnerl Fighter Pods explode in a macabre of flame and death. The Gnerl were meant to swarm over their opponents and overwhelm with sheer numbers. Because of that, they lack any decent defneses aside from armor that can withstand the rigors of space travel and planetary reentry. As Van whirled his Excalibur prototype about, he bore a demonic grin best suited on a predator, firing upon them with near-reckless abandon that one would almost deem it a miracle that he did not hit the Arwings. His rifle-pod sheared the Gnerl apart as easily as tissue paper, watching them fly uncontrollably before exploding in space, scattering metal and body parts everywhere. Behind him, the unmanned _Lancer_-class fighters took their own targets, wiping them out as they evaded them with apparent ease. Van chanced a look back and saw the alien fighters, the Arwings, seemingly pause in their combat to take the sight in.

Krystal took notice of the war machine as it unleashed its fury upon the other alien fighters mercilessly, and swiftly. Indeed, the showing of this craft, and the others, had provided much relief to her and her friends, greatly thinning their numbers as they seemed to fall back towards their mother ship. It was then that the machine seemed to take notice of her and drew close, feeling a link rekindle in her mind as the alien's thoughts touched hers. Impressions were made; deadliest of enemies, the need to wipe them out before more come, and a way to beat the mother ship. _"Krystal, everything all right?" _she heard Fox's voice crackle in her headset.

"_Just fine, Fox. Out mutual friend just shared with me something interesting."_

"_What's that?"_

"_A way to beat the mother ship. First, we have to destroy the ship's guns and render it weaponless."_

"_Sounds good to me!" _With that, Both Fox and Krystal followed after the Excalibur towards the alien ship, the unmanned craft providing mop-up as the brick-shaped ARMD _Lexington_ brought up the rear behind the _Great Fox_ to provide additional support. As the fighters bore down on the large alien ship, its guns reacted in defense, pointed right at them as they unleashed their fury, either bright blue beams of light that pierced the blackness of space like blades, or a flurrying storm of missiles that lit the very space around them in hell fire with intent to burn away to ash. But even then, the trio were undeterred as they flew past them and along the hull of the ship. The Excalibur reconfigured to its robotic form, standing upon the ship as it fired its rifle-pod upon the turrets, destroying them while the Arwings bombed the turrets from above. In short order, the beastly craft was rendered toothless, its guns falling silent as the _Great Fox _and _Lexington _fired upon it with their own weaponry, damaging it extensively as the trio flew away from it. Yet, even as the ship died a fiery death, another craft left from one of its hangars, this one more nimble than the Gnerl pods and bearing a distinct anthropoid, almost humanoid, shape as it flew about the battlefield and fired upon the _Lancer_ drones, destroying them.

Van watched the newcomer wipe out the drones as easily as he had. He focused the image on his canopy, and what he saw almost made his breath catch in his throat. It wasn't any just mecha, it was a power armor, specifically a female power armor, as indicated byt the large round pods on the back of the suit where the missiles were stored. Seeing it, his blood was once more ignited and he flew his Excalibur right at it with little forethought. The armored enemy took notice and flew out of the way of the fighter before it reconfigured itself into its Battloid form. Both combatants regarded each other and began to circle one another, and it was Van who acted first in firing his rifle-pod at the other Zentraedi. It avoided him as easily as the _Lancer _drones and responded with fire of its own, launching its missiles at Van. Remarkably, he was able to shoot them down before they got too close before pursuing the power armor among the still burning wreckage of the dead Zentraedi scout ship, breaking apart as fragments floated in the cosmos while Van searched for his enemy, his blood roiling in excitement. He felt his craft lurch forward and struck from behind, whirling in time to see missiles headed his way and evading them as they struck the burning wreckage, destroying more ruins. He reacted by firing from the missiles' point of origin, but struck nothing but debris. He was struck again, this time from the side and he reacted in the same way again, knowing that this was a losing battle. He reconfigured the Excalibur into its fighter form and flew out of the wreckage as more missiles pursued him. He unleashed flares to attract their attention and watched them explode as he reconfigured into its Battloid form, and from the flames came the power armor, firing its tri-barrelled wrist guns while he fired his rifle-pod. Both struck the other. The female power armor was pierced in the torso, arms and legs, leaking what he hoped would be blood, while the Excalibur took shots in its body and shield arm. But his guard was not quite good enough, a ricochet actually pierced the chest of the Battloid and the canopy, leaking atmosphere and striking him in the side, tearing the suit and the flesh deeply enough to make him groan in pain and grasp it, his eyes taken off the image for a moment before returning to face it, seeing the power armor was gone. Still gripping his side, Van reconfigured the Battloid to fighter, wincing and trying to stop the blood flow before he passed out, either from blood loss, shock, or lack of oxygen. He saw both Arwings next to him as his vision swam, and darkened as he found it harder and harder to breathe before his eyes beheld a blackness even darker than space.

He did not know for how long he was in the black void, but when he could see he saw a blinding light that gave way to blurred shapes that gradually became more defined. When he blinked the blurriness away, he found that he was looking up at a familiar, furry face. It was the blue-furred one, with the feminine curves that seemed to look down and smile at him. Quickly drawing his breath, Van sat up quickly from the floor of the hangar and found that his helmet was missing, overtaken by a sudden panic as the blue-furred one reached out and spoke in her language, imploring. He paused and looked about, seeing the other aliens look at him as though as an oddity. "Don't be afraid, Van Eldo Qaras." He paused, and turned to face the blue-furred one, hearing that its voice was female to his ears.

"How do you know my name?" Van asked, puzzled.

"Our mind-link, which I unintentionally caused. We shared information between one another and it took me a moment to sort it all out, including your name and language, as you should know mine," she replied simply. "Do you know my name?" When asked, it didn't even take him a moment to recall the information, along with a flurry of information.

"Krystal, from Cerinia." She seemed to smile at that while her friends stood looking somewhat confused, no doubt unable to understand the alien-sounding conversation, yet the gravity of the momentous situation was felt by all, including by those on the ARMD, and possibly beyond as a pinpoint of light danced and hid amongst the debris of the dead Zentraedi ship.


	2. Macross: Lylat Encounter: Chapter 1

In a small part of the universe exists a galaxy called the "Milky Way". In it, two advanced civilizations that should not have met have already brokered negotiations with one another in the following weeks since initial contact. In the following month, delegates from both sides met at a neutral colony between the two systems. There, in the Alpha Centauri colony established on Phaethon, representatives from Lylat and Sol met. The colony was one of the first established by the inhabitants of the Sol system after reaching the technological and engineering level with the help of a crashed alien ship from a far more advanced and complex race. And the Lylans, an older civilization whose technology at least equals that of Sol, made contact with the inhabitants out of sheer happenstance. A momentous occasion for both cultures, finding friends in an otherwise cruel universe. And it was there, on Phaethon, that they met for the first time after long-range communication. Well, for most it was for the first time.

Van flew his Alpha over the colony, the machine in its Gaurdian configuration and laser gatling-pod in hand. While not as sleek as a Thunderbolt, like the others that flew nearby, he much preferred this due to its heavier arms and armor. After all, you're only the fastest until you get tagged, that's what he believed in. He looked down and saw the capital city of Europa below, where the meetings between the two races were being held. The air was abuzz of activity as squadrons of fighters from both sides patrolled their airspace. He recognized the Lylan fighter craft, the "Cornerian Fighter" as they're called, by their green markings. He could feel the tension in the air between them and the UN Spacy forces as they patrolled their sectors, seemingly inches from one another. Yet, he was looking for something else, something he had not seen in over a month. _"Blacknight 6 to Blacknight 4, you doing OK over there?"_

"_Just fine, 6. How about where you're at?"_

"_Well aside from the ugly looks I get from the regular military, everything's peachy. Hey, is it true what I hear?"_

"_Is what true?"_

"_You know, that the aliens are...furries."_

"_No idea what you're talking about."_

"_No idea? Dude, you were there!"_

"_Now breaking transmission." _Van turned his headset off and continued to fly about in his assigned sector. He saw a couple of the regular military's craft around, and he could feel their eyes on him. They looked down on mercenary groups and guns for hire, but he expected they would view him even harsher if they knew more about his true nature. It was then that he saw it; a ship with four large wings, and a symbol in the shape of a winged fox on its side. It hovered not far from where the delegations were happening, but he didn't see any of the four fighters around. Maybe they were out on their own patrol, he thought to himself, as he should be.

If there's one thing Fox disliked more than anything, which would include being surrounded by enemies intent on killing him slowly, it would be sitting around and doing nothing, which is what he was doing right now, sitting in a chair next to a door with the rest of his team, while a group of humans in uniform stood close by, their weapons slung on their shoulders while they occasionally glanced at them when they thought they weren't looking. "What are they looking at?" Slippy asked. "You'd think they've never seen a Cornerian before."

"I don't think they have," Krystal replied. She wasn't too far from the truth. If the reports are to be belived, there were similar life forms on the humans' homeworld, and this one, but none of them walked on two legs or could speak. The door opened and the Star Fox team stood up, seeing what looked like a canine in a red military dress and cap walk out with a another figure accompanying him, a human in his own uniform that Fox guessed to be a high-ranking official. They said some words before parting ways, the human soldiers linking up with him as he headed down the hallway. Other human delegates walked out, less than cordial about the Lylan than the other as they headed down the same way.

"How'd it go in there, general?" Peppy asked.

"Not too bad. Shared some pleasantries, opened up the possibility of sharing our military technology, which the humans seemed less than enthusiastic about, and it almost devolved into a shouting match between them and then it ended."

"So, business as usual. You know, I think they're more like us than we thought," Falco replied with a smirk.

"Not sure if that's a good thing or not," Fox commented.

"Eh, so long as they're treating us like royalty, I'm not complaining."

"That's what I like about you, Falco. You have simple needs," Krystal lightly teased, but the Avian didn't seem to notice, or care.

"So now what?" Slippy asked.

"Well, I've been told we've been given somewhat free reign of the planet. I would suggest that you go out and sample the local culture. If we're going to be open with these people, we might as well get to know each other a little better." Pepper replied, walking down the hall with the team following him.

"How are we going to do that without whatever they use for money?" Slippy asked.

"Check your PADs; I took the liberty in convincing the leadership here to make accomodations and sent a little cash into your accounts. Turns out they use a credit system that's not too different from ours, so we shouldn't have a problem reimbursing them later on."

"So you're paying us to go and splurge on souvenirs?" Falco asked.

"Are you complaining, Falco?" Fox asked with a smirk.

"Not exactly that, but these people might not exactly be known for their openness to an alien species. Hell, didn't they fight a war with another alien race?"

"Yes, they did. A war they could not avoid with a war-like race that decimated their home planet and wiped out billions of their own," Fox answered.

"According to them," Falco shot back. "I'm just saying, don't be surprised if you go into a restaurant and you find they don't exactly serve to people with less hair than they do."

"_Lexington to all Black Knights: Looks like the talks are over for now. We've been ordered to step down our patrols of the area, let the regular military do their jobs for once. All units, head back to base." _Van heard the confirmation from the different pilots and gave his own, giving the area one last look before heading back to the _Lexington_. He followed the other Alpha fighters back to the ARMD while the Thunderbolts continued their patrols outside and around the city itself. He wondered how the people below were taking this, imagining they were either annoyed or nervous that there was this much activity going on in their little corner of the universe. The _Lexington _lied at the space dock along the outskirts of the city, along with a Guantanamo-class carrier, the latest to be developed. Entering the hangar of the ARMD, he kept his Alpha in its Guardian configuration when he jumped out of the cockpit and joined his squadmates, the mercenary group the Black Knights, consisting of Van, the top pilot; Jack, and Quint. Jack stylized himself as a "tough guy"; nothing fazes him and he fazes everything else, with a large build and crew cut keeping his brown hair a near-fuzz on his head, he looked the part of the soldier. Quint, on the other hand, seemed to be the opposite, a lithe figure with a headful of jet black hair combed back, a pair of small glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Their fighters were colored charcoal gray and black, with a symbol on their fuselage in the form of an armored figure with a sword and shield riding on a winged, serpentine beast; the logo of the Black Knights.

"Well, that was six hours of my life I'm never gonna get back," Jack grumbled.

"You know, Jack, most people would appreciate getting paid to do almost nothing, besides just flying around."

"Maybe, but still I'm a highly trained, well oiled killing machine! I'm made to maim and murder not...float lackidaisically around and have those Spacey space cadets look down at us! I mean, Van gets what I'm saying, right Van?" Van hardly looked up when he walked past them towards the bridge.

"Yeah, right. I'll see you guys later."

"What's eatin' him?"

"Don't know, might have something to do with what happened to him a month and a half back."

"I tried to talk to him about it, but he wouldn't open up." Van walked down the corridor and into the turbolift to the bridge. Walking in, he saw the bridge was devoid of most life, save for the captain and two bridge-bunnies working at their consoles. Mike turned to face Van with a slight smile before looking out of the main screen.

"Who'd a thunk it, huh? Two months ago, we didn't know what other forms of life there were out there. We knew about, and dealt with, the Zentraedi, but… I'm sorry, excuse me."

"You're fine, Mike. It happened long ago. Now, the Zentraedi are indisginguishable from humans. Who knows who's human and who's Zentraedi, or something in between?"

"Well, we do know one thing. If things keep on going the way they have been, we won't have to go to war with the Lylans just to make friends with them." Van had to raise an eyebrow at Mike's statement as he seemed to smile even more. Michael Corner, a former officer of the UN Spacy drummed out of the service over what he felt was a technicality, still felt the call of the service and tried to commit as best he could, even if it meant amassing a small fortune by making a mercenary team for the toughest and dirtiest jobs and recieving little better than hand-outs from the military, including an obsolete ARMD and spending considerable time, effort and money retrofitting and modifying it to try and compete with the other carriers utilized by the regular military. He even went so far as to utilize experimental fighter craft for his team that the military deemed to be inadequate for their uses. All of this, to recapture his past glory, and to capture further glory. But with the jobs he's been able to get from the government and his liaison with the military, he felt that it seemed hopeless, until last month.

The streets seemed packed as he walked down the street. Not that he minded, he preferred the disappear into a crowd. The meal selection aboard the _Lexington _weren't appealing to him, so he decided to strike out in search of at least a diner or a restaurant. What he did not expect to see was a couple of forms that looked suspiciously familiar. He had to look again to confirm what he saw, and he saw the same aliens he had encountered more than a month ago. They were the two furry ones, one orange and the other blue. "Krystal," he said under his breath. She seemed to hear him, for she looked in his direction from across the street, the cars somewhat obscuring her vision. But she could see his dark hair, and his red eyes between the moving vehicles. When she stopped, Fox stopped with her and looked in her direction.

"Everything OK?" he asked. When a lag formed between the moving vehicles, Van was no longer there.

"Yes, just fine," she replied. "Just thought I saw someone."

He didn't know why he did that. He felt that he should have walked up to her, talked to her, maybe even restart the link they had shared. In the back of his mind, a small part yearned for that establishment to take hold once more. At first, it was frightening, but now he was able to shift and compartmentalize the information that was shared between himself and Krystal. He knew more about her, he believed, than even Fox did. He yearned for it, and yet he tried to suppress that sensation, shove it into a dark, forgotten corner of his mind and keep it there. He found a diner and walked in, sitting at a booth and held his head in his hands, breathing somewhat heavily for a moment before recomposing himself as the waitress walked to him, pad and pen in hand. He asked for a menu and a soda, and she left him with one before leaving to get the other. He looked about and saw mostly humanoid shapes, comprising of both human and Zentraedi, but there was a booth where a group of anthropoid, furred forms in green uniforms sat. Cornerians, he thought. They were canid, in the shape of their furred faces which he thought were dog-like, complete with slightly long ears. They chatted among themselves while looking out the window, seemingly oblivious to the curious looks they sometimes got from the other patrons. The waitress brought his drink, and he placed his order and she walked back to the kitchen area. He pulled out a small PAD from his pocket and switched it back on, pulling out a couple of small buds from the same pocket to place in his ears and continue watching the movie he started before the mission began; an older film that utilized old-fashioned practical effects, with some special lighting effects, to help tell the story of both fantasy and science, helping him reminisce a simpler time in his childhood. For now, he was away from the confusing situation and immersed in a world that didn't exist, with characters who simultaneously did not exist and yet were just as real as he was.

General Pepper found himself doing something that he rarely found the time to do; lounge about in a hotel. Now that the talks were over for the day, and the Cornerian military did not need him for the moment, he actually found himself able to relax, which is what he was doing, sitting in the large comfortable chair that vibrated with his feet propped up on a foot rest, his military jacket hanging up in the closet of his hotel room. A long, contented sigh escaped his throat as he lied back and let his mind drift. He heard a chime come from the night stand next to him, and he grabbed his PAD and tapped it, an image of his second-in-command, a canid with a long snout and pointed ears, filling it. "Colonel Shepherd, how goes everything on Corneria?"

"_So far, so good. The Lylat system is pretty quiet. However, our outlying colonies have been suffering from attacks from unknown raiders."_

"Pirate activity?" he asked, sitting up.

"_We're not sure, general. The colonies that have been attacked have been wiped out."_

"What about survivors? Has anyone survived?" Shepherd shook his head.

"_No, sir, you don't understand. The colonies have been wiped out entirely, there is nothing left, not even debris. The colonies that have been established have been wiped from the face of the planets that have been colonized. We only know about this because of our long-range observation posts. It is also from them that we were able to get the images of what it is that we're dealing with." _The transmission shifted to a blurred image of planet orbiting a red dwarf, with a large, brick-shaped craft orbiting over it, with smaller craft surrounding the larger ship.

"Do we know whose ships those are?" Pepper asked.

"_They do not correspond with any known craft in our databanks. But then again…"_

'_Then again, what about the humans?' _Pepper thought. "Have you taken any action yet?"

"_We've sent several ships to the colonies, but there was nothing. We have no idea where they have retreated to, but there is a pattern. We believe that the next colony they will hit will be the Lycas colony."_

"That's not far from Lylat," Pepper mused. "I assume you've already scrambled a task force to the area?"

"_They're on their way there, general. But, we were hoping that, since you had Star Fox with you…"_

"I see, colonel. Actually, now that I think about it…"

"They want us to what?" Mike asked.

"_It appears that there is some trouble going on in their territory, and they would like some assistance in handling it." _The screen showed an older man, well into his golden years, wearing a uniform in the fashion of a diplomat and yet seemed to carry it with the swagger of a soldier. His face, although covered in wrinkles, seemed to be carved from stone with a steel-gray mustache under his nose, his eyes still as sharp as daggers when need be.

"Well can't the regular military handle it?"

"_The regular military is more interested in handling more local affairs, and no amount of influence I hold is going to sway them from that," _the oldster replied. _"In fact, yours was the first name that came to their mind when this was handed to them in the first place."_ Mike let out a snort of derision.

"First, our quasi-legal weapons test for them helped discover alien life and facilitated these peace talks, and now they think that because of that, we're on a first-name basis with them." He looked back up at the waiting face. "So where're we going, chief administrator Global?"


	3. Macross: Lylat Encounter: Chapter 2

The Lycas system was a single-star system with seven planets and various smaller celestial bodies, including moons and an asteroid belt that acted as a barrier between the system and the rest of the galaxy. The fifth planet, technically known as L-337, but known to others as Boran, named after the first person to set foot on its surface, had a colony population of approximately five hundred million, several cities dotting its surface with smaller communities too small to the naked eye. The planet itself seemed pleasing to the eye. Its surface was more than half covered by oceans and lakes, at least sixty percent, with landmasses covering the rest. Most of the landmasses were green underneath the semi-cloudy atmosphere, a product of nature and partial terra-forming meant to turn more of the planet habitable, with the intent of utilizing it as a farming colony. Being one of the closer colonies, it was easier for the Lylat government to send aid should they ever need it, at least on paper they would. But the arrival of a fleet of silvery Cornerian ships seem to be a sign of Corneria upholding its end of the deal, including the arrival of two other ships. The _Great Fox _and ARMD _Lexington_ had arrived via warp portal and space folding, both techniques meant to manipulate space by creating an artificial worm hole from point A to point B. The _Great Fox _lead the fleet with the _Lexington _right next to it, the ARMD being sent as a token of friendship and assistance, with the military leadership of the Sol system placing their utmost confidence in the ship and its crew. At least, that's what they told General Pepper, who stood on the bridge of the Great Fox with Peppy Hare next to him. Both watched the ARMD as it coasted next to them. "Do you suppose they know?"

"Know what, general?" Peppy asked.

"The real reason why they are here?"

"I think they have a pretty good idea. They're not exactly looked upon too highly within their own ranks, so this seemingly low-end job would be perfect for them, even if it was requested by their new allies."

"And if they should succeed in their mission, the leadership will be seen as geniuses. And if they fail, who cares? How are things on Boran?"

"So far, things are pretty quiet. I don't think the raiders hit here, yet," Krystal replied, working at her console.

"We may be in time. If you don't mind, general, we'll be getting ready to head out." Pepper nodded at Fox, and he and the rest of the team, sans Peppy, headed out of the bridge and into the hangar, boarding their Arwings and prepping for launch. It was here that Krystal felt something in the back of her mind, a sensation that she hadn't felt for a while, and was instantly aware of a familiar presence.

"_Alright, Black Knights! Mount your steeds and get ready to rock and roll! I want those Alphas primed and ready for launch when the bad guys get here!"_

"If they ever do get here," Jack grumbled under his breath with a smirk. Mike's voice over the PA filled the somewhat tight hangar and, despite Jack's mutterings, the team jumped into their aircraft and started their diagnostics and pre-flight checkups with the precision of a well-oiled machine before turning the engines over, the compact fusion reactors burning to life. Van was fastening his helmet when he felt it again, the tingling sensation in the back of his skull. He knew that she was near, and hoped he would see her again on the field of battle. Maybe he could impress her with...why was he thinking about such things right now? He pushed them out of his mind and focused on the star-specked canvas of space just outside the shielded hangar.

"How are we looking?" Mike asked, looking about in his command chair.

"All systems are nominal, no abnormalities."

"Weapons systems loaded and fully armed."

"Engineering reports all systems at full power and steady."

"The Cornerian fleet is taking a defensive position around the planet behind us. Only the quad-winged ship and _Lexington _arestill on course."The bridge bunnies replied in an almost automatic fashion, and it satisfied Mike that he was able to at least get competent operators for his ship. He leaned forward, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

"Detecting a space fold three thousand kilometers directly ahead."

"Here they come," he muttered.

Directly in front of the two ships, A bright light filled the void as several shapes seemingly materialized out of nowhere, solidifying and taking more definite form. The fleet was made up of several, large ships, with the largest being oblong-shaped, dwarfing the others which were comprised of a two slightly smaller brick-shaped craft, five of them angular in shape with a large base, and almost a dozen smaller, similar-shaped craft.

On board the _Lexington_, Mike shot to his feet and walked towards the screen when he saw the armada: Lime-green hulls with pale-white, oval-shaped protrusions on either side of each ship, each one bristling with weaponry. They were looking in the face of a Zentraedi fleet. He recognized the largest one being a command ship, the slightly smaller two as carriers, as well as five battleships, and a dozen scout/patrol ships. A small fleet, mostly like meant to forage/procure supplies for the larger armada. A fleet like this hasn't been seen by human eyes since the first encounter between the humans and Zentraedi, since Space War I. The bridge bunnies looked at the main view screen in stunned silence, neither of them have ever seen the real deal like this, only read and heard about it, and seen recreations via museums and dramas. Here, in the face of the real thing, they momentarily forgot how to function. But it was only for a moment. They quickly went back to their duties, recording everything and maintaining the ship's systems at nominal levels. However, it was Michael who was met with the dilemma: How many people can he save before being forced to retreat?

The order was given, and the Black Knights launched from their hangar and into space. And the sight of the Zentraedi fleet made them pause. _"You guys see that?!" _Jack's voice crackled over the comms

"_It's an actual Zentraedi fleet," _Quint muttered. _"I never thought I'd see one…" _Only Van remained silent, but only just. His warrior's blood was starting to burn again at the sight, his alien half getting excited at the prospect of combat, while some small human part of him relished the idea of facing insurmountable odds. In his cockpit, his wore a wolfish grin. Van gunned his thrusters with Jack and Quint not far behind, his sensors picking up four other craft coming up from behind to fly alongside them. He looked out of his canopy and recognized the angular-shaped fighters, used almost exclusively by one paramilitary group, the red, winged-fox symbol on their fuselage confirmed his suspicions.

"_Uh, friends of ours?" _Jack asked.

"_Friends of Van's," _Quint replied. Van looked and saw a blue-furred form in one of the cockpits and felt himself grin even more. Mike's voice crackled on his headset, drawing his attention forward.

"_Alright, Knights, here's the game plan. No way in _hell _are we going to be able to take on a Zentraedi fleet with an ARMD and half a dozen cruisers. I've already sent word back to their command ship, telling them that evacuation of the planet is the best course of action. While they won't be able to get the people off the planet, they've got deep underground bunkers made up that can withstand a sustained orbital bombardment, and as we know that the Zens' main method of dealing with an indigenous population. Our job, and theirs, is to buy enough time for the civilians to evacuate out of the population centers, leaving just the buildings on top."_

"_How long will that take?" _Jack asked.

"_Uhm, hour, maybe hour and a half," _Mike replied, seemingly unsure.

"_Can we confirm that?" _Quint added.

"_That's what I got from them! Right now, the team next to you is getting fed the same info I'm telling you. Focus mainly on the guns on the battleships and flag ship, everything else is secondary. You'll most likely be facing Fighterpods, Battlepods, and power armor this time around." _

"_My first suicide mission. I can hardly wait," _Jack smirked.

"_Got it, general, we'll buy Boran the time it needs. Alright Star Fox, let's rock and roll!" _The Arwings streaked towards the Zentraedi fleet, followed by the three Alpha fighters. Just short of the fleet they were met with a wall of fighters that poured laser fired upon them. The Arwings either evaded the onslaught, or deflected the laser fire with barrel rolls. The Alphas on the other hand were able to almost completely evade the laser fire, while their armor was able to take the brunt of the lucky shots before answering with firepower of their own, mainly laser fire at the tip of the Alpha's nose and a salvo of missiles each, taking down multiple targets while the Arwings replied with laser fire of their own, emerald bolts and balls of energy to mingle with pale blue lasers and missiles that claimed the lives of those unlucky enough to be tagged by them. The fighters then broke off from one another to engage in dog fights for a moment, thinning the numbers of the Fighter Pods. The Alphas reconfigured into their different modes, as preferred by each pilot: Quint still kept his in Fighter mode, literally flying circles around the Pods before blasting them out of space and heading for the war ships, evading the streaks of light as easily as breathing, blasting them away with laser fire and missile salvos. Jack liked the Battloid mode, through and through, blasting apart the Fighterpods with a laser Gatling pod and a salvo of missiles, watching them burn and explode in space in satisfaction. Van changed between the Guardian and Battloid configurations; Guardian to help evade laser fire, and Battloid to take advantage of the Alpha's versatility and maneuverability. He strafed along the hull of a Zentraedi battleship, blasting apart its cannons with his Gatling pod while evading their oncoming fire. Meanwhile the Star Fox team moved among the enemy fighters and their laser fire like an elegant dance, the Arwings nimbleness and hardiness protecting the pilots while they answered with laser fire, charged shots, and even nova bombs that annihilated the Fighterpods in droves. Fox and Falco busied themselves in downing the Fighterpods almost exclusively, seemingly playing a game with one another in how many kills they can get.

"_Fire's so thick you can dance on it," _Falco commented before unleashing a burst of twin-laser fire, while Fox answered with a charged shot, both attacks downing fighters left and right. Krystal, meanwhile, strafed along the side of one of the battleships and fired upon the gun turrets, destroying them while evading their oncoming fire. Slippy unleashed his payload of nova bombs on a scout ship, tearing the metal hull apart and rendering it dead in space. And yet, for their efforts they were hardly slowing the armada down. The flagship took the lead and broke away from the others and headed straight for the planet, with enough fire power to devastate most of the population centers on the surface by itself. Van saw this, and broke away after it, followed by one other craft. Fox kept himself as close to the Alpha as possible as it streaked after the immense flag ship, opening fire on the laser and missile turrets when they got within range. They evaded the laser fire and missiles easily enough, most seemingly missing them by a matter of inches, as they strafed the hull of the huge ship. It was then that various hatches opened up in the hull and shapes rose up out of them. They looked like large white and blue balls with a pair of bird-like legs attached at the bottom with a pair of turrets at the top of the "head" and the bottom of the "chin", with a single red eye-like sensor in the middle of the head. Van saw and recognized them as Regult-class Battlepods, and configured the Alpha into its Battloid shape to hover on the hull of the ship as it fired with its Gatling pod, the beams of energy ripping through their metal bodies, causing them to explode as they fired at the pair with their heavy cannons, only for the Arwing to repel them with a barrel roll and answer with laser fire of its own that tore the Battlepods apart. The Alpha flew past, reconfiguring to its Fighter form and flew along the hull, taking out all the weapons it could find. But there was one weapon that Van could not reach, one that made this ship even more dangerous than this fleet, and theirs, combined. A weapon that could wipe a large city off the face of a planet with just one shot. And it was this weapon that Mike was most worried about as he had the _Lexington _maneuver its way towards the battle, its cannons and missiles taking out any fighters that wanted to try and use it for target practice while the reflex barrier soaked up any damage that struck it. The _Lexington _maneuvered itself to lie directly in front of the Zentraedi flagship, firing its cannons in hopes of piercing its lime green hull and dealing enough damage.

"Get us between that ship and the planet, and get the reflex barrier up to full strength!"

"But sir, we're detecting a spike in their energy output. They're getting ready to fire their reflex cannon!"

"That's why we need that barrier up at full! At full power, we should be able to deflect its attack, and it'll take them a while to fire another shot, hopefully long enough for us to do our job!" Behind the _Lexington_, a few of the Cornerian warships followed up and flew past the ARMD, flying past the Zentraedi ship and firing upon its hull with their own anti-ship cannons, while the Zentraedi patrol ships and battleships were quickly catching up to their flag ship. They fired upon the Cornerian ships as they assaulted the flag ship, and then returned fire at their aggressors. Meanwhile, the ARMD stood its ground against the Zentraedi flagship that was more than ten times its size, the four bulges on the front of the flag ship fired particle cannons at the much smaller ship, only to have the beams of destruction be deflected by the barrier that was now at full strength, but it would not hold for long at this rate. Along the hull, both Van and Fox strafed along the surface of the ship, taking out any weapons emplacement they could find until they reached the nose of the ship. Van reconfigured his Alpha into its Battloid mode and fired at one of the bulges on the nose, taking out the cannon. Fox saw this and did the same, sending a couple of charged shots at one of them and destroying as well. In a moment, all four particle cannons were destroyed, their fire ceasing upon the ARMD. Van saw the ARMD directly in front of the flag ship and paused.

"What the hell is Mike doing?!" Van almost shouted. The flag ship seemed to shift, the entire bow seemed to split open, like the gigantic maw of a monster intent on swallowing the small ARMD. Mike saw this on the main screen, asking again for the status of the shield and getting the same confirmation: at full strength. All he could do was wait as he looked down the mechanical throat of the ship, seeing a glowing spot at the center. The flag ship was charging its reflex cannon, and all Van and Fox could do was fly away as fast as they could as it fired. The blast of awesome power almost engulfed the small ARMD, if not for the sphere energy surrounding it. The small ship took the full force of the blast, the energy it released dissipating around the barrier it erected. Van watched, rooted in place as his heart leapt into his throat, feeling, seemingly for the first time, helpless to do anything. Tense moments passed, and then finally, the great ship stopped belching forth its blast of destruction, and when it did, the ARMD still floated in place. Its barrier, severely weakened to the point of collapse, finally folded and dissipated. Onboard the bridge, Mike let out a sigh of relief, slumping back down in his command chair.

"The barrier system is overloaded, it will be offline for an hour and a half as it recharges," he heard one of the techies say.

"That's fine, just keep firing at the flag ship, keep their attention on us and away from the planet. If Van and the others did their job, we should have bought them enough time to evacuate." The ARMD started to back away from the flag ship as it closed its maw to prevent any stray, or aimed, shots to hit its reflex cannon. Meanwhile, Van and Fox linked up with their respective teams as they tangled with enemy fighters, both Fighterpods and Battlepods filling the cosmos with laser fire that was so thick is was like being in a laser-light show of death. The Arwings evaded and deflected laser fire with ease while answering some of their own, taking down fighters seemingly as easy as breathing, while the Alphas were able to take as much damage as they could dish, laser fire hardly denting their reinforced frame while their weapons were no less as lethal as the Arwings, each shot spelling death for thier targets. However, as deadly as they were, even they were running at their limits. The pilots were starting to tire, their ammo stores running dry. Already, the Alphas had used up their missiles and were relying solely on their guns, and even they had a finite amount of rounds short of recharging, and the Arwings had used up their bombs, their G-Diffusion systems are starting to reach critical levels.

"_Fox, our Arwings are hitting their limits! We'll have to pull back and soon." _Slippy's voice crackled on Fox's headset.

"Not yet, not until those people are evacuated!"

"_Fox, think about it! What good are we going to do anyone if we explode out in space?!" _Falco's voice replied. Fox grunted in derision and keyed a different frequency on his headset.

"Peppy, what's the situation like?!"

"_Almost done now, Fox. Just a little more time and the cities will be fully evacuated!"_

"We don't have a little more time!" Fox replied. "It's now or never! The Arwings are about to hit their limit!"

"_Van, how are you guys doing?"_

"Not too good out here, Mike! We're out of missiles, our gun-pods are running low!"

"_And there's still too many of these guys!" _Jack replied, his Alpha already having taken scores of hits and showing.

"_We can't last long like this," _Quint added, his Alpha looking no better. _"But we were able to disable most of their weaponry, I think."_

"_At least half!" _Jack finished.

"_Let's hope that it's enough! You guys aren't the only ones being pushed towards the edge!" _Mike retorted. The ARMD plunged itself into the heat of battle, blasting away with its cannons and scoring hits on battleships and patrol ships alike, smaller craft falling victim just as easily. Even the Great Fox, having sustained several hard, direct hits, still rained down laser fire on the Zentraedi ships. Although fierce, their efforts could not dent their enemies', it seemed. Then, it was given. Peppy, guiding the Great Fox, received a transmission from Boran. He switched it onto the main screen, seeing the canid, dark gray-furred face of the governor.

"Mark, how are things?!"

"_Well, it took some doing, but we got the majority of our population into the underground shelters. Your mission's done, Peppy. Get out of here and give my regards to General Pepper. We'll let you know when things have cooled down."_

"We'll see you soon, Mark. And when we do, you'd better have your liquor at the ready!" The governor smiled before signing off. "Fox, just got the word! We're pulling out right now! I'm sending the word to the human ship and we'll get the hell out of here!"

"_You got it, Peppy! Coming in now!" _Fox replied. He could see the Arwings heading for him as he sent the coded message to the ARMD, and watched the Alphas head for their mothership as the Arwings landed in the hangar. The word given by Great Fox, the Cornerian fleet pulled away from the Zentraedi and created a warp ring that they entered, followed by the Zentraedi ships, but the ring close before any of them could follow through. For now, they turned their attention back to Boran as the carriers broke through the atmosphere and landed on the surface, starting their operations on the planet.

On board the _Lexington_, the Black Knights headed for the bridge, meeting up with Mike as he turned to face them as they entered the bridge, a weary smile on his face. "Man, that was something, huh?" he said, slightly slouching. "That got my heart-rate. Did it get your heart-rate up?"

"Almost gave me a freaking heart attack!" Jack replied. "My hands are still shaking! Here, look! Look at this!" He raised a hand and it jittered a bit. "This is what that has done to me!"

"You'll get over it, Jack. This isn't like the usual jobs we get. This isn't just a gang of space pirates or thugs who get scared when they see a ship bigger than theirs. These are Zentraedi: Fierce, unrelenting, blood-thirsty alien soldiers whose sole purpose in life is to kill, crush, and destroy! And we just got a small sample of that today! When we get back and let the UN Spacy know what's going on, we're going to see a hell of a lot more of them!" Mike seemed to relax and slumped in his seat slightly once more.

"But what about the colonists on the planet? Their only in bunkers right now, surely there's no way for them to outlast the Zentraedi setting up shop on their planet," Quint offered.

"Normally, you'd be right," Mike replied. "But from what we gathered from the Cornerians, this is not their first rodeo in dealing with invaders. When they colonized that planet, they set the emergency bunkers down at least a mile into the planet's crust, complete with a years' worth of supplies in case things get too rough for them. Thier like underground cities from the way I read the reports."

"But even so, they can't hide down there forever," Quint added.

"No, and I don't think they intend to. Now don't quote me on this, but I think once we get back to Alpha Centauri, they're going to put together a plan to deal with the Zentraedi."

"And that plan is going to include us, is that it?" Van asked.

"Let's just say, we might not see Earth again for a while."

"So we're not heading back to Earth, then?" Jack asked.

"Unfortunately, no. We're still attached to the ambassador's security detail. But after this, I think we're going to stay relatively close to the Cornerians for a while."

"So what are your orders, sir?" Van asked.

"Right now, hit the showers, hit the racks, you guys earned it. We'll reach Alpha Centauri in a few hours, and we'll get further instruction there." At that, the Black Knights left the bridge, but not before Jack winked at one of the bridge bunnies, but she simply rolled her eyes at him and continued to work at her station as he left.

Fox hoisted himself out of his Arwing, followed by the rest of his team, as Peppy Hare walked towards them, a tired look on his face. "Well that was some of the most exciting action we've had in a good long while," the hare said with a slight smile.

"You're telling me, Pep." Fox replied. "I don't think we've seen action like that since the Lylat Wars."

"And we barely survived that one," Falco muttered. "I wonder if it's too late for me to rethink leaving the team again." That got a wry chuckle out of Peppy.

"I didn't think that when I joined, I'd have to contend with a whole army," Krystal replied softly. "They were just so...overwhelming."

"You'll get used to it," Fox replied with a slight smile that Krystal matched.

"Still, these guys are probably worse than Andross and his army when they tried to take over Lylat. Bigger ships, bigger guns," Slippy started.

"Probably bigger numbers," Falco finished.

"We're heading back to Corneria right now, and then we're going to meet with the human delegates back at the meeting place. Hopefully to come up with a plan and maybe get some help from them."

"Let's hope it's more than just one ship," Falco muttered under his breath.

"For right now, dismissed. We earned a break after that." Fox said finally. He watched Krystal head for the turbo lift and away before turning to work on his Arwing. As she rode the lift, the blue-furred Cerinian was certain that she felt him again. It was the same ship as before, and while they were using different craft, she never forgot a presence. Right now, she was wondering what Van was doing.

Van almost collapsed onto his bunk, the mattress firmly holding his weight as he stared up at the ceiling. The shower worked in easing his weariness and left him tired. He reached over to the night stand and pulled out a drawer, reaching inside and pulling a small laptop-shaped device from it and setting it on the night stand. He sat up and reached into the pocket of his uniform bottom and pulled a pair of wireless earbuds and inserted them into his ears, turning them and the laptop on at the same time, keying them together. Going through the files, he selected on video file that he felt would sate his current appetite. It opened with a scene on a rocky shore, a group of men in ancient armor with a woman and child among them, a large casket carried between two of the soldiers, and the lead pointing up into the sky and speaking in a loud voice.

"_Bear witness, Zeus! And all you gods on high Olympus!"_ Van lied back and got as comfortable as he could as he watched.


	4. Macross: Lylat Encounter: Chapter 3

"This is an unmitigated disaster! The Zentraedi showing up just as we're trying to broker a peace with these people! Do you know how many there were?"

"We only saw the few ships they had. Only a flag ship, a dozen battleships and patrol ships, and a handful of carriers."

"Why? Why me?" Richard Bailey, a pudgy-looking man past forty as evidenced by his balding and crooked stature dressed in a business suit, paced his office anxiously. Michael stood before him, watching the man get worked up as he paced like an impotently angry lion. "How do we even proceed?!"

"First, we send a message back to Earth with what we found. Hopefully they can send some reinforcements. But until then, we're the cavalry for these people and they need our help."

"But what help can we possibly give them?! We'd need at least a Macross-class ship to take on a Zentraedi fleet, and so far all of the Macross ships are either still being built or are now escorting colony fleets!"

"There is one that we might be able to use." Richard turned and looked at Michael. "The SDF-2 Overlord should be finished being reconstructed on Earth. It's an older model, but-"

"Older nothing! That ship wouldn't make it here in time. What we need to do is to pull out. Yes, that's the most prudent course of action, to leave this sector of space and get back to Earth as soon as possible and let the professionals handle this!" Michael stormed to Richard and grabbed him, almost slamming him into his chair.

"Listen to me, ambassador!" he asserted, Richard looking at him with a sudden visage of fear. "This can work to your advantage."

"How?" he asked in a small voice as Michael smiled.

"Because you'll be the one bringing in the big guns to help the Lylans fight back the Zentraedi. Once that happens, imagine all the doors that would be open to the man who, not only secured an alliance with Lylat, but also earned their eternal gratitude in the process. Doors that could lead, say, to the senate!"

"The senate?" Richard asked, perking up.

"Yes," Michael responded. "And after that…"

"After that...the presidency!" He shot up to his feet as his own imagination worked images of him in the Grand Office, sitting in the literal seat of power as the Sol System, and all its colonies, were in the palm of his hand.

"That's it, Mr. Ambassador!" Michael responded, taking Richard by the arm and embracing him to his side. "When the election rolls around, whom will the people vote, _but _the man who might very well end the threat of the Zentraedi once and for all?"

"But Michael, how do we get the Overlord here?" Richard asked. Michael looked at him with a knowing smile.

"You can handle that, Mr. Ambassador. You're a powerful, powerful man, able to make things run fast and smooth, if you know the language. I'll get everything set up, and all you have to do is relay the message, word for word, to Earth central. And then, doors will open."

"Alright, I'll do it! I'll get the Overlord here, and then I'll get to the senate!"

"There is one thing, though," Michael replied. Richard looked at him. "The Lylans are asking what we're going to do. How do we respond?"

"Oh, of course." Richard cleared his throat as he remembered. "I want you, your ARMD, and half of the fleet sent to Lylat and provide them with whatever support you can give them until the Overlord can get there."

"Of course, sir."

"So let's see if we got this straight. You talked to the ambassador and he's going to somehow get an SDF into this system, not even going to entertain how he's going to make that pull, and in the meantime the only aid we can give these people in taking their planet back from the Zentraedi is six ships, ours included?"

"In a layman's terms, yes."

"OK, so...do you plan to hold our funeral here in space or sprinkle what's left of our ashes on Earth?" Michael had the Black Knights before him on the bridge of the Lexington as he relayed the ambassador's message and orders to them. As usual, Jack replied with his usual retorts and flippant attitude that belied a genuine sense of concern. Throughout his career in the UN Spacy, he developed a callous, even morbid, sense of humor that some might find to be off-putting. But his personal belief is that if he didn't find the humor in everything, what's to stop him from eating the barrel of his sidearm? Quint and Van on the other hand were silent as they processed the information they were given. Quint with his usual calm and cool calculated mind always rationalizing everything into tiny little compartments for easier, simple, management for the sake of convenience and force of habit. Van, on the other hand, felt his warrior's blood start to burn just a little bit at the thought of facing insurmountable odds once more.

"If you're lucky, maybe both," Michael replied. "Anyway, we're heading to Lylat with half of the fleet, should be there in an hour...ish."

"Ish?" Quint asked.

"Hey, it's not my department to know _exactly _when we're going to reach somewhere, just to boss you guys around when we get there," Michael replied with a smirk and a shrug.

"As usual, your leadership skills are unparalleled," Jack added.

The Lylat System was a binary star system with a blue giant and a red dwarf orbiting about it, with nine planets orbiting them. The fourth planet, Corneria, is a blue and green world and is the heart of political and military power in the whole system and its surrounding colonies. It has seen uprisings, seditions, and war that nearly tore the system apart and yet it still stands, unbowed. But now, a fleet of alien ships appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Six ships folded close to Corneria, just outside of her orbit. The lead ship, a slightly modified ARMD named the _Lexington_ hovered closer to its atmosphere, almost entering it. However, it stopped just short and a handful of smaller craft exited from the side-mounted hangar along the brick-shaped hull. A winged, angular shuttle flanked by three smaller craft entered Corneria's atmosphere and headed right for Corneria City. The city, the capital of the planet, and the system, resided next to an oceanic body of water and a valley, with views of an ocean and a fertile forest on either side as sky scrapers reached almost a mile tall, smaller office and apartment buildings filling out the rest of the 2 mile square radius of the city. As they got closer, more details could be made out, and it was when they were less than a kilometer above the city that they were able to see its inhabitants clearly, and they were taken aback, at least most of them were. Michael guided the shuttle down and saw on a monitor the inhabitants of the system and saw what they were, taken by surprise by their likeness. His entourage, the Black Knights, felt similarly.

"_You guys seeing this?" _Jack asked.

"_I see it, but I don't believe it," _Michael replied.

"_They're...they're canines. Bipedal canines," _Quint added.

"_But how? How the hell could dogs walk upright like this?!" _Jack asked, his emotions starting to get the better of him. He, like the others, had heard about the true nature of the Lylans, but to actually see them, to see canines walking and acting like humans, was enough to shock them. _"You mean _these _are what we've been communicating with?!"_

"_It's not that farfetched when you think about it," _Quint replied. _"After all, humans started from a simple ape-like ancestor that evolved from lower animals that would become the ancestors of all mammals. Life here simply took a slightly different turn than on Earth."_

"_Oh yeah? Well take another look, Quint! I see something else walking upright that isn't human _or _canine! Felines! They have felines as well. And birds! All of them are walking!" _Indeed, on their monitors, the group can see the diverse inhabitants of Corneria City, ranging from caniids, to felines, to avians, and some they couldn't recognize. Only Van remained stoic. He had seen the face of the Lylans before, and seeing them now only made him think of one Lylan in particular, and couldn't help but wonder what Krystal was up to.

Meeting with the Lylan military leadership on their home turf was something of a humbling situation for Michael, as well as Van who stood next to him. Both were in the elaborate office of General Pepper himself. The office was at least a hundred feet by fifty, with large paintings of what looked like various spatial phenomena and military vehicles on the walls, while a view took the place of an entire wall behind the general's seat and desk. The general himself was a bloodhound-looking caniid with a typical long snout and jowls, his face starting to take on a weary-looking expression, despite the slight smile he put on for his simian-looking guests. He wore a red military uniform and white gloves, a red cap resting on the desk next to his arm. "So I'm to believe that reinforcements are on their way from Earth?"

"With all speed, general," Michael replied haltingly. "The Zentraedi force occupying your colony-planet cannot be fought with the forces we have here, unfortunately. It'll take at least an SDF-class to put a dent in their numbers."

"SDF?"

"Super Dimension Fortress. It's the largest and most powerful warship we have created. We have made only a handful since our dealing with the Zentraedi, but I'm confident we can at least get one out here within a few days. We should find something out by this time tomorrow whether or not it's on its way."

"Excellent. I'm sure that our people on Boran are eagerly awaiting us to rescue them. They can only last for so long in the emergency shelters."

"Uhm, can I ask you something general?" Van interjected. Pepper looked to him curiously, but never losing his smile and while Michael looked to him sharply. "You seem to be taking this quite well. Aren't you worried about your people there?"

"Of course I'm worried. But knowing that I, and by extension we of Corneria and Lylat, have allies willing to aid us in this way makes me feel secure, even confident, in our efforts to take back out colony. Preferably before any more people get hurt."

"I see," Van replied.

"You'll have to excuse him, general. He's not quite used to people acting so...cavalierly during a crisis like this."

"Of course. He's a much focused young man, one who takes his duties seriously." General Pepper rose from his seat and extended a hand to Michael. Well, then captain. Until we receive word from Earth, feel free to browse about our city, and we even have some lodgings set up for your accommodations. Our planet is yours." Michael took the hand with a smile and firm shake.

"Thank you, general. May the news we receive be fortunate, and be the next step in retaking your world."

"I gotta hand it to the Lylans, they do know how to treat their guests." Jack commented, flopping himself onto one of the beds in the hotel room. The room was one of the penthouse suites, provided by the military, that comes with two bedrooms, with two beds each, a den and kitchen area and two bathrooms. "It's like a hotel in Vegas."

"Well don't get too comfortable," Quint replied. "Either the SDF gets here, which is the longest of long shots, or the Zentraedi figure out where the Lylat system is and head directly for here. Either way, we're screwed the moment we have to face them again."

"Why's that?"

"Even with an SDF on our side, we'd still have little more than a dozen ships to take on a Zentraedi fleet. We don't know how much of their forces are left from the first Space War, for all we know we've only faced a fraction of their full forces. The fact that there are still active Zen operating this close to our solar system makes me nervous."

"You? Nervous?" Jack asked incredulously. He was grabbing for his ruck sack and pulled out a small device, like a laptop, and opened it up. "Since when did you get nervous?"

"Since I saw a Zentraedi fleet set up shop on a planet barely a few light years from here. What do you have there, anyway?" Quint asked.

"Ah, I borrowed some movies from Van…well, more like he copied them and gave them to me. Have you seen his movie collection? Guy's got literally almost every movie ever made on several hard drives."

"One of the aspects of the Zentraedi; their hunger for culture," Quint replied with a shrug. " Maybe we can do to these ones what we did back then."

"You mean the "Minmay Attack"? Wasn't that just a myth?"

"Maybe. When I first heard of it, I thought so. But after seeing Van,"

"Yeah. Maybe we'll hold a film festival and that'll convince them to give up the planet," Jack replied with a smirk.

Corneria City was the kind of city that never slept; its inhabitants were busy during all the hours of the day and night, travelling either by hover-car along the roads or between buildings on unseen lanes, or on foot via sidewalks. Among the crowd, walking among the gaggle of differing life forms was one who did not belong, yet drew no attention to himself, the people already used to seeing alien life. Van walked with a purpose, driven by a compulsion that was implanted into him by that blue woman, the one he met months ago and thought about incessantly since. He thought it gone, just as soon and abruptly as it arrived, but the images and emotions still remained, like a scar upon his mind and heart. What's more, he can feel her presence on this planet, and he homed in on her, to where she was.

The Great Fox lied in dry-dock, receiving maintenance and check-ups of all types, a process that would take, sometimes, a day to perform. As such, the Star Fox team booked at their favorite hotel not far from the space port. While it was not as high-end as those in the heart of the city, it was by no means a rundown-hole-in-the-wall apartment building that had recently been converted into a motel. Krystal was in her room, meditating, when she heard the door chime, rousing her. The bellhop at the door told her that someone was waiting for her in the lobby. Piqued, she headed down to the lavish lobby that was teeming with multiple persons heading to, and leaving, their rooms up and down elevators and flights of stairs. Krystal saw someone at the desk, its back turned to her. Only when she got near did it turn, seeing that it was the human that she met months ago. He also took notice of her and straightened himself as she got closer, feeling uneasy. "Uhm, hi," he said tersely.

"Hello," she replied, leading to a brief awkward silence until Van broke it. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About you being _in my_ _head!" _he whispered harshly, gesturing to his temple. Taken aback, she looked about to make sure that no one was watching them before taking him by the arm.

"Come with me."

"I don't understand what your problem is. The effects of the melding have faded away long before now."

"Then why am I still thinking of you?"

"What?" Krystal was brought Van back to her room, thinking it best not to let her teammates know about this, and had lightly placed her fingertips on the sides of his head, lightly melding her mind with his.

"Ever since I met you, I've been thinking of you almost every day. It's starting to get distracting."

"Thought about me, in what way?" she asked, curious.

"I keep on thinking about you, what you might be doing."

"I see," she replied, removing her hands. "Well, it's not because of the mind meld. Have you ever…had a crush?"

"A what?" he asked.

"Have you ever been attracted to someone?"

"Not really, I've figured it would get in the way."

"Of what?" she asked with an incredulous smile.

"My life as a warrior."

"Do all humans think like that?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm half-Zentraedi."

"What?" she replied, surprised. "I thought you were fighting the Zentraedi."

"It's kind of complicated, but a war was fought almost two decades ago, and humans won that war, but it destroyed about seventy percent of Earth, our home. And since Zentraedi and humans are almost completely identical, right down to the genetic makeup, both intermingled and guys like me are made."

"Right, but what does that have to do with you having a crush on me?"

"It doesn't. Again, I think it's from the meld we've had. Zentraedis don't have…"crushes"."

"Right…well as far as I can tell, there are no residual effects from the meld. But, you know what could help with your crush problem?"

"What?"

"If we got to know each other a little bit better. It's what friends do."

"Friends?" Van asked.

"Yes, friends. You have teammates, right? And I'm sure they know things about you and you know things about them, which is what I'd like to do with you." She took a seat across from him, cross-legged as Van sat on her bed, confused by the sudden turn, and didn't know how to proceed. "How about I start?"

"Ok," Van replied.

"I was born on a planet called Cerinia…


End file.
